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Sunday, February 11, 2007

Apple tries to take a bite out of the PC market


Anyone who has been on the Internet recently must have seen the new Webb and Mitchell fronted Apple Mac advert.

The idea, replicated in Japanese and US versions (or should I say our replicated version), pits Apple Macs in the guise of comedian David Mitchell against Macs personified by Robert Webb.

The advert shows cool Mac being used for fun while the PC is for dull things: nobody works on a Mac and no one play games on a PC. Really?

I think Charlie Brooker of the Guardian might have a point with his view that "the only way to have fun with a Mac is to poke its insufferable owner in the eye."

The advert is less than convincing, especially the assertion that Macs are virus free. Viruses are supposedly confined to PCs! No they are not - they are conducted through the software not the operating system, and the software can be run on either. Have a look at the Mac virus attacks ad here.

The BBC does quite a good appraisal pointing out Apple have used Mitchell and Webb because of their popularity from The Peep Show. Yet, as they further point out David Mitchell (PC) was the likable and underachieving character and Robert Webb (Mac) was the sleazy dishonest character from the sitcom. The BBC says that Apple are trying to have it both ways. Charlie Brooker in his Guardian article sums up, "PCs are a bit rubbish yet ultimately lovable, whereas Macs are just smug, preening tossers." Is the Guardian allowed to use such language?

I will leave the conclusion to this discussion to the Letterman show and YouTube.

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